“Will there be humans at the station?"
“No, it is unmanned. But we shouldn’t stay there. We should collect the bag and move on.”
“Agreed. I suspect the soldiers will think I have gone the other direction to return to my brothers.” It is tempting, but Ido not want to draw danger to them. And it will be a long trip without supplies. “How will you know when it’s safe?”
“Patrick will message after five days…or Mandy will, if he can’t.”
“And if neither of them messages, it is not safe to return?”
“Something like that. Come on, I need a drink.”
It doesn’t take us much longer to reach the river, but we do not stop for long. Just enough to quench our thirst, even though I long to swim, and wash my hair.
She leads me along the bank, and it’s clear she’s looking for something.
“You’ve never been here."
“No, I had no reason to.”
In the end, I notice the structure before she does. Its straight walls and flat roof break the uneven lines that nature provides. I reach out, searching for human heartbeats, but the structure is deserted. However, it hums as though it has a charge of its own.
“What does this hydro station do?”
“It generates electricity and also pipes water to the colony.” She walks around the structure. At the back there are some rocks and nestled amongst them is a black bag. She picks it up and throws it over her shoulder.
I hold out my hand. “I will carry it.”
“I’m fine.”
“I am stronger. Now we have the bag, it is up to me to find us someplace to shelter.” It needs to be somewhere where I can catch dinner and cook it because now that I’m free, there’s nothing I want more than fresh food.
I glance at Chloe. That is what I’m telling myself, anyway. Fresh food is far safer than the urge to claim my mate and make her mine. I’m not sure that going through rut is the right thing to do when humans could be searching for us.
Being distracted by sex could kill us both…on the other hand, being in rut will make me stronger and faster and increase the strength of my charge.
She hands over the bag. “I don’t want to go too far.”
“We won’t. There is a waterfall nearby.” I can hear the drumming of the water. “And where there are waterfalls, there are often caves.”
We make our way around the structure and then the waterfall is in front of us. It’s not a big one. But as I lift my gaze to the mountains, there is a much bigger one further on. I suspect the big one feeds the lake, which then spills out into the small waterfall.
I’m certain this is the river that my brothers and I followed. If I walk in the other direction, it will lead me to them. Instead, I lead Chloe towards the waterfall.
The pounding of the water in the rocks is so loud that it drowns out all other noise. The spray in the air wets my skin and I laugh. This is what freedom tastes like.
I lean in close and whisper in her ear, “wait here for a moment.”
“Where are you going?”
“To check behind the waterfall.”
She frowns at me.
“For a cave.” I don’t want to leave her, but it will be quicker for me to go alone, and if there’s nothing there, we will have to push on to the bigger waterfall.
She grabs my arm. “You will come back?”
“I swear I will not leave you. You have chosen me to be your mate, and my heart is filled with that promise.” I say it in my words because I do not know how to express what I feel in her language.
